May 03, 2011

Please join me on May 21 at 2 PM at the Sierra Madre Public Library for a fun-filled afternoon. I'll be talking about Austen's timeless appeal and the genesis of my two Austen-inspired novels. Which could be considered semi-autobiographical, if they did not involve time travel and body-switching.

Hope to see you there! That's 2 PM, May 21. In whichever century you like.

August 03, 2009

Many people are surprised when I tell them that I grew up in a house with only a handful of books. Neither of my parents were readers—my mother has, in recent years become a voracious reader—but luckily back then there were three ways by which I was able to indulge my incessant need for books: the bookmobile that visited my neighborhood, the library bus that took me to my local public library, and my school library.

[Two kinds of bookmobiles: One from the Meridian Library in Meridian, Idaho; and the other from the Camel Book Drive in Kenya. For more information about the wonderful Camel Book Drive,* and to see how you can help, click here.

For me, the library was a magical place where smiling ladies handed me the keys to endless doors that opened onto exciting new worlds and infinite possibilities. Libraries were the place where I discovered the sanctuary of story. The wonder of imagination. The power of the word.

Were it not for libraries and librarians, I would not be who I am today. Which is why I will always be grateful to librarians, library support staff, and all the generous folks who support these sanctuaries and champions of reading.

And so I am particularly excited to be doing a reading and signing of RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT at Glendale Public Library. This is a particularly vibrant, exciting place with lots of community events and a dynamic staff whose mission is "to enrich life, foster literacy, inspire intellectual curiosity and stimulate the imagination."

And they're also a lot of fun.

So take a break from the heat and have a glass of iced tea with me at Glendale Public Library. I look forward to seeing you there!

July 06, 2009

Come raise a glass of bubbly with me and hear some passages from my brand-new novel, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT.

The reading and signing is at my most wonderful neighborhood indie bookstore, Vroman's, where I teach writing workshops, lose myself for hours in the aisles of bookstore heaven, and find the perfect book, card, or can't-live-without-gift.

May 26, 2009

The theme of the Spring Meeting of JASNA-SW, the Southwest Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America, was "A Day of Pride, Prejudice, and Politics," and I had the good fortune of being on the program with a stellar group of speakers:

First, there was Dr. Charles Lynn Batten, the UCLA professor about whom I've been hearing for years. The conversation with my fellow Austen addicts usually goes like this:

"You mean you've never heard Lynn Batten speak?"

"No."

A disbelieving shake of the head and pitying look follows.

Well, now I have heard Dr. Batten speak, and he is not only exceedingly knowledgable and insightful about Jane Austen, he was also downright hilarious. Dr. Batten's talk was called "Jane Austen: Conservative or Liberal?" His verdict: Austen was most likely a moderate Tory.

My opinion? I see his point, which is far more well-researched than my own belief, which is, quite simply, that Jane Austen had exactly my politics and beliefs. Same favorite colors. Would have like the same movies, too. As Karen Joy Fowler put it in THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, "each of us has a private Austen."

Then there was Margaret Horwitz, JASNA's Traveling Lecturer, who gave an illuminating talk called “The Legacy of Her Voice: Ethics and Wit in Austen’s Novel Pride and Prejudice and Its Filmed Adaptations." Dr. Horwitz's talk made me want to go back and watch both the BBC mini and the 2005 movie (as if I need an excuse) to see all the symbolism in props and camera angles that Margaret pointed out in her lecture.

As for me, I gave the very first public reading of my upcoming novel, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. If I am to judge by the laughter in the audience, then everyone was having as good a time as I did.

If that wasn't enough fun, there was a white elephant sale of – you guessed it—Jane Austen related books and tschotschkes. I spent $60 on 12 back issues of PERSUASIONS, the wonderful bound journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Such a deal! My bookshelves are groaning. But I'm all smiles.

August 12, 2008

My live chat with Vic of Jane Austen Today will begin tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific time and 10 p.m. EST.

Please join us for a fun discussion and a chance to win a book!

Here are the instructions Vic gave me for participating in the chat:

Please click on this link:
You will see a page that looks like this:
Enter your name. For example, you will see Vic's name listed as Vic, Ms. Place. You do not need to enter your profile.
Then click on Chat!
You will see this screen (and hear a knocking sound):
The arrow points to a window/address bar. This is where you will type your questions or chat with the others in the chatroom. Click on enter to submit your discussion. You will see the dialogue in the large blank field on top of the address bar. You will see the names of the chatters on the top right, however, you will not see your name. This is normal.
We are looking forward to meeting you and talking with you in the chat! If you live in other parts of the world or country, please check this time zone clock for conversions.
Email Vic at janeaustensworld at gmail dot com if you encounter difficulties.
Sincerely, Vic (Ms. Place)

July 31, 2008

Vic and Laurel Ann of Jane Austen Today, two of my favorite bloggers, have asked me to participate in a live chat on August 12th. We'll be talking about my novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, and this is your chance to ask me questions about the book, the great author who inspired it, about writing and publishing, and about the sequel. Please join me!

How to participate:

Just before the scheduled chat, which is on Tuesday, August 12, from 10 PM - 12 AM EST,
and 7 - 9 PM Pacific time, go to Jane Austen Today, where you will see the link to the chat room. Simply click on the link and join in our chat.And maybe even win a book:

March 07, 2008

[This is how I started off my talk at the Whittier Public Library's Jane Austen series on March 5, 2008:]

In all the excitement of the recent releases of The Jane Austen Book Club movie and Becoming Jane, and now that we are well into Masterpiece Theatre's Complete Jane Austen, one might be tempted to say that 2008 is turning out to be the year of Jane Austen, perhaps even more so than 2007. But let's not forget that 2008 is also an election year. And with all the hoopla and fuss over should it be Obama, Clinton, or McCain, I submit that it should be Jane.

Sure, she's been dead for almost 200 years, but that doesn't seem to stop Masterpiece Theatre, Hollywood, Bollywood, authors like me who are inspired to write books because of how much we love her, and readers like me who continue to read and re-read her six novels incessantly.

And most important, who is better qualified to run the country than she?

Let's talk about character:

If we go by the assumption that there is a little bit of the author in each of her characters—well, at least in each of the characters she likes—than who can lead the country better than someone who has the wit and intelligence of Elizabeth Bennet, the diplomacy of Anne Eliot, the prudence and strength of Elinor Dashwood, and the stay-the-course steadfastness of Fanny Price?

Let's talk about experience: People like to say that Austen never left the south of England, that she led a circumscribed, uneventful life. But in all fairness, it would be pretty hard for her to take a Grand Tour of Europe—supposing she were able to afford it—during the Napoleonic Wars.

Just because one doesn't write about war doesn't mean one is ill-informed about war. Aside from being very well read herself, Jane Austen had two brothers who served in the Navy and fought in those wars, and a cousin, Eliza de Feuillide, who married a French count who got guillotined during the Reign of Terror.

As for that uneventful, quiet life, it's not like Jane Austen was a recluse. She loved to socialize, to dance, to be in company. She traveled many times to London and lived in Bath.

And she may not have married, but she was hardly sheltered. Just read Lady Susan, one of her minor works, and see how sheltered you think she was. For Jane Austen, staying single was a choice. She had at least one proposal that we definitely know about, and very likely more. Being a single woman was a brave choice for a woman of Austen's time, especially for a woman like Jane Austen, who was not exactly flush with money.

So, we've got character. We've got experience. We've got courage.

Let's talk about special interests.

Some people think that Jane Austen panders to special interests—in particular, the special interests of women. After all, her stories are all about bonnets, pretty dresses, balls, and who gets to marry the rich guy.

Right?

Wrong.

But are not these stories rife with handsome men in knee breeches and women in beautiful gowns? Does that not pander to the special interests of the fairer sex?

Well yes, I suppose, if you are to take the movies to be the same as Jane Austen's novels, which they are not. The novels were actually quite spare of period detail, as Jane Austen wrote them for her contemporaries, who already knew what a barouche-landau was and what type of waistline the latest gowns had. Of course, we women love the eye candy the movies provide, but so should the men, considering all those heaving bosoms in all those low-cut empire waisted dresses.

Just to illustrate for you the difference between the movies and the books, let's take Sense and Sensibilty as an example. In the book, Edward Ferrars is plain. In the movie, he is Hugh Grant.

In the book, Colonel Brandon is grave and solemn and singularly un-dashing. In the movie, he is Alan Rickman.

Am I complaining about any of this? Absolutely not.

Willoughby, granted, is a beauty in both book and film, but then again, he is the villain of the piece.

As for Jane Austen's allegedly overly zealous interest in female finery, I beg to differ, for she relegated such pursuits to her silly, superficial female characters, such as Mrs. Elton with her overly trimmed dresses and her fishing for compliments, ditzy Mrs. Allen whose main joy in life was dress and shopping, and the vacant Lady Bertram, whose main purpose was to sit on a sopha all day nicely dressed.

How many discerning men might have laughed knowingly had they read this passage in Northanger Abbey:

"It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire…Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it."

Even the empty-headed Mrs. Allen in Northanger Abbey acknowledges that "Men commonly take so little notice of those things." Said she; "I can never get Mr. Allen to know one of my gowns from another."

Indeed.

If Jane Austen were indeed pandering to the special interests of women, then how come T.C. Boyle, Michael Chabon, Paul Auster, Gregory Peck, and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat all love Jane Austen?

Apparently they know something other men may not know, which is that Jane Austen's genius speaks to all of us, not just women. Her stories have universal resonance, because they are stories of self-knowledge and self-discovery. They are witty social satires, and they are commentaries on the follies and flaws and majesty of human nature.

And yes, each of her books is all wrapped up in a love story—not an overly sentimental one—but one with a happy ending.

And who, male or female, can resist a happy ending? Doesn't this country need a happy ending? Doesn't this country need a lesson on how to become a better human being, especially when that lesson is wrapped up in such an agreeable, amusing package?

[The Whittier Public Library in Whittier, California, is hosting two more events in its Jane Austen series:

Wednesday, March 12th, at 7:00 PM:Jane Austen, Love & Friendship:Come and listen as Jane Austen, as portrayed by Mary Burkin, shares family and neighborhood gossip.Free.

Wednesday, March 19th at 7:00 PM:Tea and Tasteful Conversation:Enjoy tea while learning about the culinary world of Jane Austen's England.Presented by Anne Kiley, Ph.D., Professor at Whittier College and WPL Foundation Board MemberRSVP $25.00 per person; limited seating. 562-464-3450; 562-464-3470.

All events are at the Whittier Central Library7344 S. Washington Avenue, Whittier, CA562-464-3450]

December 05, 2007

Great news for all Austen lovers awaits us in the new year: Masterpiece Theatre’s Complete Jane Austen begins in January with four new adaptations, plus rebroadcasts of the Kate Beckinsale Emma and the inimitable 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries starring the man in the wet shirt, Colin Firth.

Canada's public station, TVO, has cool clips and commentaries on these exciting new productions. (If you get TVO you don't even have to wait till January to see three of the new films. You can watch Northanger Abbey,Mansfield Park, and Persuasion on TVO beginning December 16, which also happens to be Jane Austen’s birthday.)

Wish you’d come to one of my readings instead of washing your hair that night? Check out this Authors @ Google’s video of a reading at Google’s Ann Arbor offices, which was one of the highlights of my book tour. Imagine working for a company that cooks you a delicious lunch every day and brings in authors to read you stories during the workday. Where can I sign up?

Speaking of unusual venues, how about a hair salon that’s also a bookstore? That’s Beauty and the Book, the Jefferson, Texas headquarters of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club, another exciting stop on the tour. What would Jane Austen say about such a place? Read my guest post on Book Club Girl and find out.

Coming up this month: Satellite Radio interview on XM 163’s Sonic Theater-“This is Audible.” If you don’t have XM, the interview will be available on audible.com for free download. Just type in keywords "This is Audible," "Josephine Reed" (the delightful interviewer/program director), and "December 2007" to find the download. Exact broadcast date will be posted here as soon as it’s available.

In the meantime, let’s all enjoy the holiday season and raise our glasses to Miss Austen on December 16. And while you’re making your lists and checking them twice, consider giving your favorite Austen addicts a round trip ticket to 1813 England for the mere price of a book (or six-CD unabridged audiobook, which just got a glowing review in Publisher’s Weekly).

December 04, 2007

[You can read my guest post here or on Book Club Girl. In any case, check out Book Club Girl, a priceless resource for anyone who has a book group, wants to start a book group, or just loves to read. ]

Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Reports from Her Visit to the Pulpwood Queens Book Group!

I was en route to Jefferson, Texas to give a reading of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addictto the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubwhen
the flight attendant announced that he wasn't quite sure our landing
gear was working. There probably wasn't anything to worry about, he
said, though I later learned that the Shreveport Fire Department was
out in full force to greet us just in case. Hands gripping the armrest,
I turned to the woman sitting next to me and said, "Why did they have
to tell us that?" She shrugged. And so I said some prayers and then
went back to my book; I was reading Emma.
If those last twenty minutes of flight time were to be my last twenty
minutes alive, I would go down reading Jane Austen. Sure enough, Austen
took me out of myself, out of my fears, and into Highbury, where Emma
danced with Mr. Knightley at the Crown. And before I knew it, the plane
was safely on the ground.

Like the protagonist of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict,
I use Austen as comfort, guidance, and a cure for a host of ills that
come with modern living. Unlike her, I found myself transported not to
Regency England, but to Beauty and the Book,
the headquarters of the Pulpwood Queens, and the only beauty
salon/bookstore in America. Their motto? "Where tiaras are mandatory
and reading good books is the rule!" At Beauty and the Book,
bookshelves lined with must-reads face racks of RedKen products, and
stacks of the club's monthly picks are flanked by hairdryers. Tiaras
and other rhinestone goodies are also on offer. One thing that struck
me was the absence of gossip magazines, the typical reading fare of
hair salons. Then again, there is nothing typical about Beauty and the
Book. If you want to read while you're getting your hair done, there
are plenty of choices, but they don't include accounts of celebrity
divorce and who made a fashion faux pas on the red carpet.

At
the meeting, book club members, most decked out in tiaras, some
sporting the club's signature hot pink T-shirt, seat themselves in
hairstyling chairs to tuck into fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and
other Southern delights they've cooked specially for the occasion. Kathy Patrick, the original Pulpwood Queen and author of the upcoming Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life,
is the charismatic and benevolent ruler, making announcements,
encouraging everyone to fill a plate and get comfy. This group is here
to have fun, but first and foremost it is there to fulfill Kathy's
mission, which is "to get the world reading."

When the last bite of chocolate pie had been consumed and the last of
the tiara-wearing Queens filed out the door, Masha and I were in for
yet another treat: hair tips from Kathy, who showed us some cool tricks
for last-minute special looks. As I left this enchanted place, I
wondered, What would Jane Austen think of Beauty and theBook and The Pulpwood Queens? I'm convinced she'd love them. For one, the Pulpwood Queens live up to what Anne Eliot said in Persuasion: "My
idea of good company... is the company of clever, well-informed people,
who have a great deal of conversation." The Queens are definitely my
idea of good company--truly a delightful group of women who were full of questions and stimulating ideas. As for their Jefferson, Texas venue, I
am reminded of the circulating libraries of Austen's day, often
fashionable places where patrons could borrow books for a fee, and which also sold jewelry and other trinkets. If they had offered
hairstyling, too, they might have been nearly as perfect as Beauty and
the Book.

Book Club Girl Here: Laurie, this
sounds like it was great fun and I'm glad you got to meet Masha
Hamilton too! I grabbed some photos from your site and here's a link to all the rest of them.

August 11, 2007

Just had my first reading on August 8th at Vroman's Bookstore, Southern California's oldest and largest and absolutely coolest independent bookstore. I love Vroman's--the people, the community outreach, the events, the classes (I teach there from time to time, and it's been a peak experience for me), and the BOOKS.

One of the most gratifying moments of that first reading was what my friend Beth said, which was that my book inspired her extremely well-read daughter to read Jane Austen. This is exactly what I had hoped for: to write a book that would be as accessible to readers who had not read Austen as it is to those who are fellow Austen addicts. And even better, to spark the curiosity of non-Austen-readers to read my favorite author.

Another memorable moment: A woman in the audience presented me with this gorgeous drawing she made while I was reading from my book:

Many thanks to everyone who showed up that night--it was lovely to see familiar faces and to meet new people. I'll have more to report when I return from the first leg of my book tour...